The Struggle for Authenticity in Art I want to speak today about authenticity . And about what we quietly give up to be accepted. We’re told that contemporary political art values autonomy . That artists are free. That inquiry sits at the centre of practice. But autonomy, in reality, is often something we *perform*— not something we’re allowed to exercise. Freedom is celebrated rhetorically, while legitimacy is granted only when work conforms to approved languages , approved theories , approved causes . Autonomy isn’t denied outright. It’s curated. This system doesn’t fail artists by accident. It functions mechanically. It rewards work that aligns with predetermined frameworks and filters out work that doesn’t speak the sanctioned dialect . Many voices are excluded not because they lack skill or meaning, but because they refuse to translate their experience into institutionally legible language. I’m not saying all excluded work is good. I am saying much of it is never heard. An...
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Student Distraction and Teaching
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I think dealing with distraction has been with humans for many centuries. It isn't something we have to bash up our youth with. They are not a diminished generation. I like Elvis even though he destroyed my parent's minds
How do we measure diminished concentration? Many people have an unintentional injury in the pre-Google world. In America (land of Google) from 2000 to 2009 unintentional death rates declined by 29%. There is enough research that demonstrates a rise in IQ occurred alongside the rise of the internet. (Google Scholar search: Internet and IQ increase).
I believe that Learning is actually a distraction (disruptive and distractive).
I have a keen interest in how mindsets which focus on narrow points disconnects us with what is actually happening in what is a rich multi-faceted complex reality. Knowing actually positions the person. It can lessen adaptability and change.
An open learning mindset distracts us from fixed knowing. Education is in the learning business, not the knowing business. Education is a distraction. In regards to open-mindsets and fixed mindsets, I refer to psychologist Carol Dweck.
What occurs in our fabricated personal paradigm is often a disillusioned place that we think we know until something or somebody (teacher, mentor, peer) helps us transform towards a new sense of understanding. Learning is the distraction we need to assist us from the position based fixed mind of knowing. Sometimes allowing yourself to be distracted from what you know is difficult.
Check out how easily these pre-Google educated people are so easily distracted.
I have not read any research that specifically states that learning has diminished because of students' diminished capacity to think and learn. I do not believe that students' have any less attention span than my generation or my parents' generation. Students are staying longer at school, unintentional accidents have declined and research points to an increase in IQ has occurred whilst the internet reaches mass saturation. The ability to read and understand, to think deeply and philosophically, and to develop intellectually has not diminished.
21st Century learning requires different teaching methodologies and tools than what was generally employed in the 20th century. OECD links the growth of a nation's economy with learning, technology, and innovation. Singapore is now top of the OECD PISA ranks. They employ a program 'Teach Less Learn More' and employ high levels of connected technology. Singapore has changed significantly since my youth. Future secondary school students need to have the skills to work in the Global Digital Economy: Digital Economy Skills (read more):
It is possible that if learning is based on consuming content, listening, observing, note-taking, and regurgitation (20th Century Industrial technology methods) distraction can increase. However, if learning which actively engaging students with their learning through 21st Century networks and social technology, learning effectiveness can increase.
Anne Matthew paper on Managing distraction in 21st-century learning environments, Nuts and Bolts' offers some insights into learning, inter-connectivity, rapid multitasking, and attention switching:
The challenges of maintaining attention and managing distraction are not new barriers to learning; the novelty in 21st-century learning environments is the plethora of technological distractions beyond the control of the teacher. The extent to which distraction impacts upon the learning experience may well be dependent upon a number of factors, including learning and teaching approaches and individual learning preferences. Where the learning experience hinges upon student attention through listening, observing, or note-taking, the impact of the distraction indicates a potential failure in pedagogy in the new learning environment. The challenge presented is how best to engage learners effectively. The answer may lie at the intersection of attention economics and accepted principles of effective learning and teaching practices directed at maximizing student engagement in active learning (Matthew, 2012). In information-rich, highly connected learning environments, the most effective learning, and teaching practices will be those that deploy and structure attention to the greatest effect by actively engaging students with their learning. It is suggested that in seeking the most appropriate pedagogy, the learner’s role in actively shaping their own learning experience should be supported and such support should extend to use of ‘technologies of their own choice where appropriate’ (JISC, 2009, p. 51)
The Situation - Red Alert JB , a middle-aged mail spaceship pilot . Starship piloting JB is held not by ropes, but by the cryo-unit's nanoweave swaddle —a tight, absolute embrace mimicking paranoiac wrappings. This material presses against him, preventing his shivering flesh from flying apart under the centrifugal force of his panic. He feels a cold burn and constant helplessness sinking in. His anxiety is a crimson klaxon , a "relentless tempest" of warring thoughts. He is mentally back in the cockpit, but the instruments scream in an alien language; every light and warning signifies impending failure. His pure instinct screams ABORT , yet there is no escape route. Confrontation Rising JB is shown the war of impulses tearing him apart—the "lunge and the retreat". His existence is reduced to the strained gasp: "I live for fucks sake, I don't know.” Full Assault a Violet Firestorm JB responds with explosive, automatic violence, his lungs burning from ...
Situation - The Tempest’s Reflection JB, a spaceship pilot, has been placed into a cryo cocoon to revive and transform his life essence. Inside the cocoon, he experiences his mind as a "relentless tempest of clashing thoughts, swirling and churning, mirroring the furious chaos outside of the machine." JB also sees his older self trapped in the same transitory state. The Storm in my Looking Glass A cinematic close-up of JB’s face behind the curved glass of the cryo-cocoon. The glass reflects not the room but a "relentless tempest" of swirling dark clouds and lightning , symbolising his churning thoughts. In the storm's reflection, a ghostly older version of JB is visible, trapped and silent, mirroring the pilot's current state. Cryogenic Rejuvenation Chamber - Night This trapped specter is the true mirror of our pilot's current, suspended state: a mind caught between two ages, the man he was refusing to be silenced, terrified of the man he is about to be...
The hand that holds the glamour Between the flick of a lighter and the curl of smoke lies a story told in two parts: the hand that holds the glamor, Between the flick of a lighter and the curl of smoke lies a story told in two parts: the hand that holds the glamor, and the eye that chooses to believe it. The art of the obscure and meaningless In the realm of modernist art , exemplified by Eddie's deliberate embrace of abstraction and mystery , artists have increasingly surrendered their authoritative power of intent to a veil of meaningless vagueness, compelling viewers to co-create meaning from fragmented suggestions rather than receiving a clear, directive vision. Her scalpel-wielded dissections—such as her perforated self-portraits or obscured war images—eschew explicit communication in favour of elusive hints, as she professed a desire to remain "mysterious" and avoid revelation, thereby shifting the burden of interpretation onto the audience in a pseudo-spiritual a...
